CHAPTER 265: AFRAID OF YOU

"Nonsense!" Kade scoffed, raising his voice, as he lost his temper for a moment. With perfect timing, because Felix also scoffed, momentarily forgetting himself, but luckily, Kade’s voice was able to cover him up.

"Ahem, what I mean to say," Kade cleared his throat, composing himself, "I have also discussed it with Felix, and he hadn’t mentioned anything to me. So, forgive me for saying it, Sir, but I can’t quite believe you..."

"Ah, right. Felix mentioned it as well. I would like to apologize to you in his stead... It seems that he didn’t quite know how to handle the situation," Wilder responded.

"...What?"

"Yes, I deeply apologize for him. I hope that you won’t take any offense at it... Felix has spent most of his life in the Moonhill Pack, I couldn’t even take him with me to visit other packs too often because of his health issues... I didn’t want to say it, but he’s not the most socially adept person. He is overwhelmed by the situation and your status as the heir to a supreme pack..."

"What are you trying to say, Sir?" Unable to stand listening to Wilder’s bullshit any longer, Kade interrupted.

"Felix is afraid of you. He lied to you, because he was afraid of your reaction," Wilder answered bluntly.

’Hah!’ Felix almost scoffed out loud again, his claws digging into the damp, mossy ground.

Him? Afraid of Kade?

Well, yeah, perhaps that had been the case... But that was a few months ago. Before he had gotten to know the Alpha. Back then, he truly had been afraid of what Kade might do to him if he were to do anything to displease him, intentionally or not... However, over time, he had started growing more and more comfortable around the Alpha, without even realizing it. And now, he had come to trust him a lot... Perhaps not entirely - he still had his doubts, and wouldn’t allow himself to put unlimited trust in anyone, be it Kade or Remi - but at least enough to be open with him about what was going on. The only thing he hid from Kade was what had happened with Remi... And that was because it was related to the fox’s curse, which was REMI’S secret, not his.

Of course, Wilder wasn’t aware of any of that. But that was the point: he knew next to nothing about Felix. He might have been his father, but they had never been close by any means. And even Felix was so easy to read that he could guess his thoughts just from watching him during their short interaction the previous day... That kind of interpretation of his behavior made no sense. Especially for someone like Wilder, who was supposed to be good at reading people.

Then again, it wasn’t necessarily that Wilder was wrong about Felix’s thoughts and feelings... It was just the words that he was saying to Kade that were wrong. Which could have totally been done on purpose, in order to drive a wedge between Kade and Felix.

Felix stirred nervously. The forest was too silent once again, as Kade was taking too long to respond. Truly, not being able to see the two Alphas and their expressions made it even more unbearable...

Of course, he didn’t think that Kade would be manipulated so easily and believe Wilder over Felix, but still. Felix was barely holding himself back from charging ahead and barging into their conversation... He had to remind himself that he was in his wolf form, so he couldn’t talk unless he transformed back to his human form, in which case he would be naked. On top of that, Kade probably had a plan in mind, and interrupting them now might ruin it.

In the midst of it all, he completely forgot that next to him, Cael was also listening.

"...Alright, let’s say that that’s the case," Kade finally spoke up again. "I’ve brought Felix to the pack knowing very well that he had a fated mate. Why would that stop me now?"

"You won’t be able to successfully undergo the mating ceremony while Felix is still bonded to someone else."

"Hmm, I don’t know about that," Kade chuckled.

"...What do you mean by that?" Wilder seemed to be taken aback by Kade’s sudden change in attitude.

"The ceremony is just a ceremony. No one but the couple involved can tell if it succeeded or not. And who knows, perhaps the Moon Goddess will take pity on us?"

"What?" Wilder didn’t understand, but Felix almost gasped.

That’s right, he was a... unique case when it came to the mate bonds. Normally, if a werewolf met their fated mate, they wouldn’t be able to bond with anyone else until that bond was severed by rejection or death. However, Felix already HAD been bonded to two different Alphas at the same time... So, who’s to say that the mating ritual wouldn’t work for him and Kade, even without breaking his bond with Jared first?

In fact, now that he thought of it... Perhaps that was the key to breaking that damned fated mate bond? Thinking back, the main difference between the time when Kade had rejected him, and Jared’s rejection attempts, was that with the former, he had been connected to two Alphas, while with the latter, his connection with Jared was his only bond at the time...

It was a wild guess. And, even if he was right - which, honestly, while it kind of made sense, was still just a random speculation, and could be completely wrong - he still didn’t know if he would be willing to go through with it... Being Kade’s mate would be by far better than being with Jared. Perhaps Felix would have been able to accept it... If Kade wasn’t the heir to the Bloodmoon Pack. Felix still had no intentions of becoming the Luna...

He didn’t have much time to ponder about it, though, because Wilder spoke up again, and Felix had to perk up his ears to listen carefully. He had to focus on it first, and leave all of his speculations for later.

"Young Master Kade," Wilder addressed Kade by his title, probably to remind him of his position. "I am aware that the Bloodmoon Pack is powerful, but it still will reflect badly on you if you steal someone else’s mate and force him to marry you instead."

It sounded ridiculous for Wilder to talk about forced marriage, since it was exactly what he was trying to do to his son, but Kade didn’t point that out. Instead, he just calmly responded,

"I’m not sure what you mean, Sir. Felix is still an unmated and unmarked Omega. Even if he had or has a fated mate, they had never completed the mating ritual. Thus, even if you want to argue about it publicly, it’s just the Moonhill Pack’s words against ours..."

"And, oh, if you’re thinking about trying to prove the bond through that tracking method," he added a moment later, in a tone that immediately made Felix recall Kade’s dangerous smile, "Then I would advise you to think twice. Naturally, since I want to claim Felix, I have already considered that, and thought of countermeasures. It would bring nothing but embarrassment to the Moonhill Pack, and I’m sure that neither of us would want that."

Was he bluffing? Most likely he was. If Kade had really thought of any ways to prevent the mate tracking test from happening (other than killing Jared, of course), then he would have shared it with Felix, in order to reassure him if nothing else. And since he said nothing...

It must have sounded convincing to Wilder, though, because the man went silent.

However, the fated mate bond between Felix and Jared wasn’t the only card he had.

"The Moonhill Pack is just a medium-sized pack. Although Felix is my son, and thus his status within the pack is high, within the werewolf community, he is still a rather insignificant Omega. You don’t have anything to gain from that match."

"So?" Kade scoffed. What Wilder had said wasn’t wrong, so he didn’t argue with it, but he could guess where it was going.

...Or so he thought.

"If you still insist on marrying Felix, then you must like my son a lot, right?" Wilder asked.

"...Yes?"

"Since that’s the case, then it’s even more important for you to let him go. If you let him stay in the Bloodmoon Pack, his health will deteriorate, and he will die young, just like his mother..."

"We can provide him with the best care, thank you for your concern," Kade snapped. "I was already aware of his health issues, and made sure to give him extensive checkups... I’m sure that he will be better off with us, rather than the Moonhill Pack, where his mother had passed away."

’Rather than the Moonhill Pack, which allowed his mother to pass away,’ was clearly what he meant. He just couldn’t openly blame the pack for not taking proper care of Felix’s mother, as he was still trying to maintain civil relations.

But Wilder let out a heavy sigh in response. "Yes, I admit that we haven’t been able to help her... However, things are different now. Over the past few years, I have been traveling in order to find remedies to their condition... And now, we will be able to provide Felix with adequate health care," he announced.